


Over the Hills and Far Away

by kaitoubingu



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - GraffArt Halloween, Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 02:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16466867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitoubingu/pseuds/kaitoubingu
Summary: A rash of child disappearances follow the path of a local circus, and its up to Shuichi, recently-famed detective, to investigate.





	Over the Hills and Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> heavily inspired by Book of Circus. seeing the GraffArt Halloween set with clown Kokichi and detective Shuichi clicked together something in my brain, I guess
> 
> I literally haven't posted anything publicly in two years (it's probably been like five years for gen fic rip) so this is a Halloween miracle
> 
> Happy Halloween!

Shuichi had never liked the circus, even as a child. Walking through the roped-off area behind the main tent, he wondered if he had caught the scent of urine and cigarettes and alcohol he was smelling now all the way back at the entrance and knew to stay away.

It was obvious people were staring at him, and he wondered if it was because he was an outsider or if people recognized him. Being well-known now didn’t exactly help his detective work.

The man leading him took a sharp turn, stepping over another set of ropes without a word. The tents turned from dirty tan-brown to a royal blue. It was quieter here, smelled a little better. No one was milling around outside. They stopped at the third tent on the right, and Shuichi tried to tuck that layout away in case it became important later.

“Hey Dice, you have a visitor.”

The boy in question looked like a pile of mismatched scrap cloth from behind, bent over a small hand mirror. The room looked better than the ones they’d passed, crammed full of people and dangerously constructed bunk beds. This was smaller, but obviously housed only one person, who got a table, a stool, a small chest, and a single bed.

“Aww, a fan?” He lifted the mirror up to get a better look behind him, and his smile faltered a bit when he saw Shuichi. He spun around in his stool, tapping his lips with the top of the mirror. “A famous fan! Detective Saihara?”

“He said he's here to investigate something or other, and we figured you'd be the best to talk to.” The man who had brought Shuichi to Dice's tent was very short and stout and deep-voiced, and he was already lighting his second cigarette since Shuichi had started talking to him a few minutes ago.

Dice hummed cooly. Shuichi already felt there was something off about him, something behind his eyes. He took a step into the tent, vaguely recognizing he was somewhat trapped, even if he was probably taller than the two trapping him combined.

“There's been a recent trend of children going missing, and it seems to keep happening along the path of your circus.”

“Oh, I did hear something about that, I think.” Dice stood, now, placing the mirror down on his small table. The tent was nicer than some of the others Shuichi had passed by, but it wasn't exactly luxurious. “Ace, grab jungle boy for me, I need to fix his costume.”

The man - Ace - hesitated, glancing at Shuichi. “You need Kaito for anything?”

Dice tilted his head, but didn't look confused. “Him? What, is he gonna ask the constellations where the kids are?”

Ace nodded, once. “Got it.”

Shuichi waited until he was gone to speak again. “Who’s Kaito?”

Dice shrugged. “Our fortune teller - well, ‘astrologist.’” He rolled his eyes. “He's pretty nosey, so feel free to talk to him later, I guess. He might actually know more than me.”

Shuichi guessed that answer was better than nothing. Dice gestured to the sparse bed. “You can sit, best seat in the house.”

Shuichi took the offer, hesitantly. “Can you tell me anything you might have seen? Any way someone here could be involved?”

Dice undid the frilly collar he was wearing, unconcerned. “I don't see how. I thought about it, of course, once I learned about the disappearances, but I'm no detective.” He walked over to the small chest, and Shuichi chanced a look inside. There was a black-and-(off)-white checkered blanket at the top, obscuring anything else that could be inside of it. “I can tell you they're not joining up with us, or sneaking into the caravan or whatever. I’d hear about that.” He pulled the blanket aside, revealing neatly folded spare clothes, almost too ordinary-looking.

He started unbuttoning his vest, and Shuichi averted his eyes. “Do you know if anyone has any problems with their pay here? Heard any complaints?”

“People complain all the time.” Shuichi chanced a glance, and saw Kokichi grinning back at him. “Not so badly they'd resort to kidnapping, I think, if that's what you're suggesting. Hard to say, though.”

Shuichi caught a glimpse of Dice's scar-riddled skin as he pulled a shirt on.

“What were the children's living situations like? Any similarities?”

He blinked, confused for a moment that he was the one being questioned. “Ah, they're pretty varied. All the parents and other caretakers said they had a happy home life when interviewed, though.”

“Well, of course they’d say that. No one would come out and say they're a mean drunk who beats their kid.” Dice was smiling like he had just told a joke. He started taking his pants off, and Shuichi looked away again.

“What are you suggesting?”

“That people can lie.”

Shuichi frowned at the corner of the tent. “Of course they can. The truth always comes out, though, in the end.”

“I sure hope so, detective.” Dice leaned into his line of sight, now fully clothed. His face was blank now. “You're pretty new at this, huh?”

He came close to sputtering, defending himself, but instead he steeled his gaze. “Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?”

Dice reacted to his glare with a smile. “I'll tell you my theory!” He sat down right next to him, too close. “My theory is that there's some kidnappers involved, and a lot of unhappy kids. I think maybe it started with some kidnappings, some runaways, but by now I think it's all unhappy kids using this whole problem as a cover to escape their awful home lives.”

It took Shuichi a moment to process. “Do you have anything to back up these claims?”

He shrugged, still smiling. Something in his eyes seemed mocking, but Shuichi had to be imagining it. “Just a hunch.”

“Hunches can't solve cases, especially-”

“Dice?”

Dice stood suddenly, clasping his hands together. “Ah! Come in!”

“Ace says Dice wants Gon- ah!” The man who had halfway entered was blinking at him in confusion, but Shuichi was a bit too taken aback by his stature to notice. He was huge, barely fitting in the tent without even accounting for the two other people inside. He was barely dressed, too, torn shorts with an obvious rip along his inner thigh. It showed off all of his muscles.

Shuichi felt suddenly endangered once again, tensing in his place and eyes searching for the best exit around the huge man, who was still halfway in, completely blocking the exit. Dice waved a hand like nothing was wrong.

“This is Detective Saihara, Tarzan. He's here investigating those missing children.” Something in Dice's tone had changed when he appeared, softer and less teasing.

He brightened, stepping fully into the tent.. “G-Tarzan worried about that! Tarzan want to help!”

Shuichi couldn't help but smile. His appearance was intimidating, but everything else about him was kind and gentle. “You can definitely help me! I just need you to answer a few questions-”

Dice huffed, suddenly frowning. “In a minute. Go question someone else for now while I fix his costume. If the idiot keeps ripping it we might get shut down for real…”

“Tarzan sorry, it just, hard to move around. If Boss let Dice change it-”

“I know,” Dice snapped. Shuichi could see his shoulders tense up.

“Boss? You're not the leader?”

Genuine surprise graced Dice's face. “Leader?” He shook his head, kneeling next to his chest again. “Not really. The real boss is some rich old guy who likes throwing money at orphanages and circuses.”

“What's his name?”

Dice lifted a pile of shirts to pull out a smaller box, and underneath it Shuichi could make out stacks of paper and envelopes. Were they just notes for his act? Letters?

The shirts fell back over the papers before Shuichi could get a good look at them. Kokichi busied himself pulling sewing supplies out, squinting at his threads in the dull light. “This is gonna sound weird, but I don’t know. I've never met the guy; he just sends us money and written messages.” Dice turned back to him and met his gaze, blank.

“Boss sign letters with ‘M’!” Tarzan supplied. Dice blinked.

Shuichi tried to not let the interest show on his face. Someone would know, maybe not any of the circus members themselves - or any that would admit it to him - but their had to be some record of who really owned the circus. The level of mystery this benefactor kept was certainly suspicious, considering the related disappearances.

Getting a look at those correspondences would help things, too. It might solve the case right then and there and-

“Detective?” Dice had come close again, and now he put his hand on his shoulder, his grip trying to pull him up from his seat “How about you go visit Kaito after all?” He shrugged. “Maybe his astrology will actually give you a clue, who knows?”

“Sure.” The air in the tent had turned now, tense and almost hostile. He doubted he’d get anything else done if he pressed, so he stood, letting Dice’s hand fall from his shoulder. “I would like to talk to you later, Tarzan.”

Tarzan hadn’t seemed to notice the atmosphere, and continued smiling as he nodded. “Tarzan happy to help!”

“Do you need help getting to Kaito’s tent? He should still be in the main area, so…”

“I can get back there. Thank you for your time.”

Dice smiled again, easy. “Of course. Can’t wait to hear you solved the case.” Shuichi could have sworn there was something mocking about the way Dice said it, but he shook it out of his mind.

Ace was waiting for him as soon as he stepped outside, not leaving him alone for a second. It was unsettling. 

He took another drag of his cigarette, lazy and casual. “Where to next?”

“Um, the- Kaito- But you don’t have to-”

“Gotcha,” he nodded, started walking, straight to the main area, straight to Kaito. He turned to look at him when Shuichi didn’t follow.

He was being watched, escorted. They didn’t want him to wander. There was something they didn’t want him to see.

Shuichi had to admit he had expected it to be a little easier, to find the children had run away to join them or had been tricked into working for them somehow. Of course they wouldn’t be so obvious, someone would notice something like that eventually.

It was possible this wasn’t just a kidnapping case. The thought chilled Shuichi more than the night air as they walked to the grounds still full of lights and people, still full of children running around half-supervised despite the news and rumors.

The chill didn’t settle as they came to the tent draped in glitter galaxies and stars. Still, Shuichi managed to hope that he could get more answers if he just kept looking.


End file.
